Daily News for Commercial Real Estate & Business – August 8, 2011

Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:

Scottsdale industrial property sells for $5.5M Westar Plaza, an industrial showroom at the Scottsdale Airpark, sold for nearly $5.5 million to Enright Westar LP, a Canadian investment company located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The transaction closed Friday. The seller was Greenway Hayden Loop LLC. The managing principal of that company lives in Parker, Colo. The 43,550-square-foot property is located at 15500 Greenway Hayden Loop. It was built in 1996. View article...

Barrington Regent Apartment Complex in Phoenix Sells for Just Over $7 Million Su Casa Investments LLC has acquired Barrington Regent, a 124-unit apartment community in Phoenix for nearly $7.1 million. The seller was Barrington Regent LLC, a limited liability company based in Greenwood Village, Colo. View article...

Tempe office/retail development sells for $4.1M A joint venture of Via West Properties LLC and Southwest Value Partners paid almost $4.1 million for a mixed-use development in Tempe named the Crossroads at Tempe. Phoenix-based Via West Partners and San Diego based-Southwest Value Partners purchased the three-building office and retail project from Castle & Cooke Inc , a Bakersfield, Calif., real estate company. Located on 11.4 acres at Kyrene and Elliot roads, the development comprises 96,600-square-feet of office space and 15,460-square-feet of retail space. View article...

Mesa citrus co-op building eyed as Four Peaks brewery The historic Mesa Citrus Growers co-op building soon may get a new life as a Four Peaks brewery, but it still faces stiff competition from throughout the Valley. Built in the early 1930s, the brick building at Broadway Road and Country Club Drive was once the hub of Mesa's thriving citrus industry before the city's orchards were redeveloped as subdivisions as the city grew to the east. View article...

Gilbert Gateway Towne Center faces foreclosure Gilbert Gateway Towne Center is facing foreclosure but owners and real-estate analysts say tenants and shoppers have nothing to fear. The Business Real Estate Weekly of Arizona reported in July that the 455,500-square-foot retail center on the northwestern corner of Ray and Power roads is collateral for a loan that has fallen into default. The loan, which originated in 2005, was for $50.2 million. Its current balance is $48.6 million. View article...

4 Krispy Kreme locations close in Valley The three Krispy Kreme doughnut locations in Phoenix and one in Chandler closed this week as the current franchisee decided to leave the doughnut business. An Albuquerque-based franchisee is looking to buy the Valley locations from owner Dan Brinton, said Ryan Guagliardo, general manager of the Krispy Kreme at 6626 E. Superstition Springs Blvd. in Mesa. View article...

Durant's remains snapshot of 1950s Phoenix To experience Phoenix of the 1950s, one has to go no farther than 2611 N. Central Ave. There, Durant's restaurant sits largely unchanged since colorful gambler James E. "Jack" Durant opened the renowned steakhouse and watering hole in September 1950. View article...

Goodyear to open new-model QuikTrip next spring Goodyear will get its second QuikTrip gas station/convenience store next spring. The city and Tulsa-based QuikTrip Corp. officials said construction of a gas station will begin in November and is expected to open about six months later. Mike Thornbrugh, spokesman for QuikTrip, said the station will be the first in Arizona modeled after the company's generation-three design. View article...

Casa Grande 'world trade center' complex set to open soon A massive wholesale shopping complex is expected to open soon in Pinal County, bringing with it at least 300 foreign investors and their families looking to make a home in America. To stay, they have to help boost the local economy. Chinese investors, real-estate companies and local government officials have completed plans for a 1.5 million-square-foot business center, to be called Phoenix Mart. View article...

Restaurant roundup: Lux is new and improved Central Phoenix has some great offerings, and there's a new and improved one on the way. Lux, at 4400 N. Central Ave., is getting some new digs next week when it moves to a larger space just south of it current spot, said Owner Jeff Fischer. View article...

Arizona ranks 18th for number of LEED buildings Arizona ranks 18th nationally for the number of LEED-certified commercial spaces in the state, according to an analysis conducted by sister publication, the Memphis Business Journal. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a benchmarking system that rates the energy conservation and sustainability of various kinds of properties and developments. View article...

Valley cities at odds over commuter rail's role A political fissure is developing among northwest Valley cities that are at odds over the region's transportation priorities and what role commuter rail should play, if any. Peoria and some leaders in Surprise envision commuter rail eventually running along Grand Avenue from Phoenix to Wickenburg. They said it is a critical tool that will revitalize a blighted corridor. View article...

HOUSING:
Tucson named America's 'sickest housing market' Tucson has been given the dubious distinction of having the nation's "sickest" housing markets with a homeowner vacancy rate that is more than double what it was a year ago. According to a new list, "America's Ten Sickest Housing Markets," by the investor website 24/7 Wall Street ranked Tucson as No. 1 with homeowner vacancy rates of 6.8 percent, rental vacancy rates of 15.9 percent and unemployment at 7.8 percent. View article...

Phoenix-area homes could see lowest prices in a decade As if yesterday's news about the stock market wasn't bad enough, the latest reports from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service aren't anything to write home about, either. Sales velocity dropped nearly 25 percent from June's high of 11,125 transactions and median prices could drop below $100,000 by October if ARMLS' Pending Price Index holds true. View article...

ECONOMIC NEWS
FASB Lease Accounting Proposal Update The Financial Accounting Standards Board and its international counterpart continue to work on their lease accounting proposal project (capitalization of all leases) and in July announced a new target date for an exposure draft at the end of 2011. That would be followed by a 120-day comment period; the new rules will not be issued until mid-2012 and the transition date is 2015. This departure from the Boards' original timeline is an indication of the complexity of the proposal and reaction to FASB changing its course over the past few months. The delay allows stakeholders another chance to comment. For more information...View article...

US credit rating downgraded to AA+ America's credit rating was downgraded by Poor's Friday, taking the U.S. credit rating from AAA, the highest level, down a notch to AA+. S&P said the debt and deficit reduction deal brokered by Congress and President Barack Obama this week failed to adequately address federal spending issues. View article...

Market Collapse Worst Since '08 Fears that the global economy is nearing yet another recession have led to nosedives for U.S. and European stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 513 points, or 4.3 percent, while the S&P fell 60 points, or 4.8 percent, and the NASDAQ dropped 137 points, or 5 percent. All investment gains made in 2011 have been negated, experts say. View article...

Unemployment Rate Slips to 9.1% After heading higher for three straight months, the nation's unemployment rate declined to 9.1 percent in July, down from 9.2 percent in June, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. The economy added 117,000 jobs last month. View article...

Food stamps rolls hit record high: 45.8M Americans, 1M Arizonans More than 1.06 million Arizonans are on food stamps. That translates into 17 percent of the state's population, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally there are 45.8 million Americans on food stamps, a 12 percent increase from a year ago, according USDA numbers out this month. View article...

Feel free to contact me regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities or your property.

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I'm Nick Miner. I have been working in Commercial Real Estate since 1998 and have completed over $225 million dollars of sales and leasing activity in my career. In September 2012, I made the move to ORION Investment Real Estate and am currently a Senior Vice President - Investments. How can I help you?